Sometimes I forget how powerful the energetic influence really is, most likely because I see it in action every day. When you experience something often enough, it becomes background noise. You stop thinking about it; you just know that it is there, and have faith that it always will be-like air.
And then, sometimes, you get a reminder.

I had my reminder during a recent acupuncture treatment. I settled in for my treatment at the community acupuncture clinic I visit weekly, ready to get acu-stoned. Through the years, my reaction to acupuncture has changed significantly. I don't know if it's me, or the acupuncture...but when I go under, I go way under. I've never had a hard time relaxing, but I remember a time when I would zone out without ever falling asleep. At a certain point, I started to fall asleep after every treatment. Then, eventually, I got to the point where I started to sort of dream while still awake. Sounds strange, I know-even to me. I don't understand what kind of state I'm in when the needles are in, or why I have so many drug-like visualizations while I'm in this state. I always feel great when I leave, though.

So, back to this week's treatment: I settled into my chair, comfy and warm and looking forward to an hour of otherworldly peace. Only this week was different; every time I started to slide down that slope into semi-sleep, I would violently jerk and twitch. It was quite annoying, and happened throughout the entire treatment. I would start to relax, then to drift off...and that unexpected spasm would come back, making my hands and feet flail about (not something you want to happen while there are needles in you...or while you are in a room with other people, for that matter.)

At the end of the treatment, I was still in my familiar daze, and my acupuncturist asked how the treatment had been. I told him about that weird spasming, and he just looked at me for a minute.

"Hmm," he said, "I wonder if anyone has ever done some sort of research about all the energies mixing in a community acupuncture clinic? It's interesting, because I had a new patient who was treated in your chair right before you came in. She was here because her body twitches and jerks once she falls asleep, and it keeps her up all night."